PERFORMERS: DICK EMERY

He was a clever character comedian who didn’t quite make it to the ranks of Britain’s beloved greats probably because his programmes never really developed beyond being comfortable and predictable.

The Dick Emery Show was a fixture on B.B.C. schedules for twenty years (only ending with Dick’s untimely death in 1983) and, with the possible exception of Ronnie Barker, he created some of the most famous comic characters on television.

A stage veteran since his childhood, Dick spent three years with Ralph Reader’s Gang Show during World War II before branching out as a solo comedian when demobbed. Like his wartime contemporaries Howerd, Hancock, Sellers and Secombe, he appeared numerous times on such B.B.C. radio shows as Variety Bandbox, Variety Fanfare and many others

By late 1952 he was filling in for an ailing Spike Milligan on The Goon Show (in tandem with Graham Stark). As the decade progressed his talent at providing character voices also saw him sought after for radio series like Pertwee’s Progress, Service with a Smile and Educating Archie (where he was a regular on the show’s final four seasons).

British television was also coming into its own and Dick appeared with such stars as Pertwee, Hancock and Bentine in their various small screen presentations as well as in the TV incarnation of Educating Archie. In 1960, he joined the cast of the popular ITV series The Army Game, helping fill the void left when Alfie Bass and Bill Fraser departed to star in the spin off Bootsie and Snudge. At the same time, Emery was back with Michael Bentine for the launch of his groundbreaking It’s a Square World and the decade would prove to be a busy time for the performer.

By 1963, BBC Television decided to launch Dick in his own series and (along with more Square World programmes) he also starred in Emery at Large on the Light Programme. Emery was finally able to unleash a gallery of colourful characters that would delight viewers and listeners for the rest of his career.

There was the dentally-challenged old codger Lampwick, a somewhat less-holier-than-thou Vicar, a bovver boy who seemed to have head-butted one too many brick walls and a gaily smiling chap named Clarence who had stridently unburdened himself of his closet.

On the distaff side was a man-hungry frump named Hettie and a bleached blonde called Mandy, who was single-minded in her pursuit of double entendres. Subtle they were not, but laughgathers they definitely were.

Dick had finally found his niche and seldom strayed from the popular formula of a montage of vox pops leading to a selection of unrelated sketches inhabited by his various alter egos.

By the 1970s his characters not only branched out to the big screen in a movie called Ooh, You Are Awful, but also straddled the globe to the small screens and stages of Australia (where the success of his BBC series had spawned an antipodean equivalent). And there was a book of script extracts Dick Emery in Character with Dick giving some background to his creations.

In the late 1970s Thames Television decided to add Dick to their growing roster of comedy greats (which by then included Benny Hill, Morecambe And Wise and Tommy Cooper) and produced several one-hour specials.

Meanwhile back at the Beeb, The Dick Emery Show chalked up its eighteenth season before it was decided to finally abandon the sketch format and create an ongoing storyline which would see Dick appear in a variety of different guises. Titled Emery Presents, the first batch was subtitled Legacy of Murder, with a follow-up story Jack of Diamonds filmed soon after.

But before the second season could air, at the end of 1982 Dick was hospitalized with a serious liver problem. Tragically, the ailment proved inoperable and he died just two days into the new year.

Television

TWO’S COMPANY (Libby Morris series)series 2: Granada September 19 to December 26 1956

THE TONY HANCOCK SHOW

Series 1: Associated-Rediffusion April 27 to June 1 1956
Series 2: Associated-Rediffusion November 16 1956 to January 25 1957 (fortnightly)

MAN AND MUSIC (Spike Milligan special)BBC June 24 1957

AFTER HOURS (Michael Bentine series)Series 1: ABC October 5 1958 to January 18 1959
Series 2: ABC September 12 to December 19 1959

EDUCATING ARCHIE (Peter Brough series)Series 1: Associated-Rediffusion September 26 1958 to February 20 1959
Series 2: Associated-Redifussion September 18 to December 25 1959(DE as the gardener and Mr. Monty)

THE ARMY GAMESeries 5: Granada September 27 1960 to June 20 1961

IT’S A SQUARE WORLD (Michael Bentine series)
Special: BBC September 16 1960
Series 1: BBC April 26 to May 31 1961
Series 2: BBC October 5 to November 9 1961
Series 3: BBC April 19 to May 31 1962
Series 4: BBC October 4 to November 8 1962
Special: BBC April 19 1963
Series 5: BBC May 3 to June 21 1963
Series 6: BBC November 14 to December 31 1963
Series 7: BBC September 27 to December 20 1964
(also short segments in Christmas Night with the Stars in 1962 and 1963)

THE SEVEN FACES OF JIM(Jimmy Edwards series): The Face of Genius
BBC November 23 1961

THE DICK EMERY SHOWSeries 1: BBC fortnightly July 13 to August 24 1963 (45 min)Series 2: BBC 10 editions between October 6 1963 and April 12 1964 (45 min)
special: BBC1 December 4 1964 (45 min)Series 3: BBC2 October 2 to November 13 1965Series 4: BBC2 August 10 to November 2 1966Series 5: BBC2 April 3 to June 5 1967Series 6: BBC2 December 4 1967 to January 15 1968 (in colour)Series 7: BBC1 January 7 to March 7 1967 (b/w)Series 8: BBC1 April 3 to June 11 1970 (all in colour from this point)Series 9: BBC1 March 5 to May 7 1971Series 10: BBC1 January 1 to March 25 1972Series 11: BBC1 March 10 to May 26 1973Series 12: BBC1 October 5 to December 14 1974
Special: BBC1 December 24 1974 (35 min)Series 13: BBC1 August 30 to November 15 1975
special: BBC1 December 24 1975Series 14: BBC1 September 7 to October 26 1976Series 15: BBC1 September 3 to October 22 1977
special: BBC1 December 24 1977 (45 min)Series 16: BBC1 February 17 to March 24 1979Series 17: BBC1 January 5 to February 9 1980 (35 min)
special: BBC1 December 27 1980 (50 min)Series 18: BBC1 January 3 to February 7 1981 (35 min)
(also short segments in Christmas Night with the Stars in 1963, 1964, 1970 and 1971)

Recordings

Dick Emery Sings Pye LP NPL 18277, Marble Arch LP MALS 1229If You Love Her
Wait for Me
My Own True Love
Love Will Find a Way
The Bells of St. Mary’s
Anyone Can Move a Mountain
The Girl Next Door
If Ever I Would Leave You
Grateful
This is My Song
Day After Day

With Ageing / The Wonderful World Of LovePye 45rpm 7N 17888

You Are Awful / Dance, DancePye 45rpm 7N 45202

You’re Just As Lovely Today / Our Young IdeaPye 45rpm 7N 45288

You’re The Only One / I’m Going To Make Them LaughPye 45rpm 7N 45417

Dick Emery Sings Pye LP 18411Party Time
The Reddest Sports Car
Bitter the Sweet
Didn’t I?
Willy
You’re Just as Lovely Today
I’m Home
Beautiful Bermondsey
The Vicar of Belching-by-the-Sea
If I Only Had One More Song to Sing
Pamela
I’ve Got to Make Them Laugh

THE GOON SHOW vol 18: The Goon Show and More GuestsBBC 2CD ISBN 0563 55342
includes episode 8/1 Spon (guest starring Dick Emery)

Books

DICK EMERY IN CHARACTER
by Dick Emery (Robson, 1973)

OOH, YOU ARE AWFUL … BUT I LIKE YOU!
by Fay Hillier (Macmillan/Sidgwick & Jackson, 2001)

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